About John

John Brantley has experience advising United States and international companies on the risks and benefits of expansion and operation out-bound from, and in-bound to, the U.S. He has knowledge of the cultural and practical side of international operations acquired through personal experience on the ground in Central Asia, China, the Middle East, South America and the United Kingdom. Additionally, John has advised international companies (including state owned enterprises), private equity firms and strategic buyers and sellers on the intricacies of investing in the securities of U.S. public and private companies in traditional and auction transactions. This experience, coupled with his market knowledge, enables him to identify the factors critical to the success of a transaction at an early stage so that strategies may be developed to improve outcomes.

His securities experience includes private and public offerings in the U.S. and internationally of debt and equity securities for state-owned and private enterprises, including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and Rule 144A/Regulation S offerings for listing in the U.S. and London. John’s evaluation of disclosure issues is based on knowledge of the unique disclosure issues applicable in the oil and gas, chemical and banking industries acquired through years of practice. He advises boards of directors and committees on disclosure and corporate governance issues, issues regarding board structure and composition, executive compensation, director independence and fiduciary duties in a variety of contexts. His knowledge enables him to provide perspective to clients in successfully resolving governance disputes among management, the board of directors and the stockholders.

Experience

Recent Notable Matters

Pilot Chemical Company — purchase of ATRP Solutions, Inc.

First Sterling Ventures Corp. — acquisition and sale of various portfolio companies, including the sale of Fibreglass Holdings, Inc., a privately held manufacturer of premium quality pick-up truck caps and tonneaus under the Snugtop® brand to Truck Accessories Group and the sale of Intersystems, a leading designer and manufacturer of specialized material handling equipment serving the global agricultural industry, to The Pritzker Group

Baker Hughes Inc. — $55 million divestiture to Superior Energy Services of two stimulation vessels and related assets used to perform sand control services in the Gulf of Mexico pursuant to order of the U.S. Department of Justice

Baker Hughes Inc. — $250 million acquisition of Weatherford International Ltd.’s pipeline and specialty services business

WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. — the holding company of WashingtonFirst Bank, a Virginia state bank headquartered in Reston, Virginia, represented in its acquisition of Alliance Bankshares Corporation, pursuant to which WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. become a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ

NASDAQ-listed savings and loan holding company — series of seven acquisitions with an aggregate value in excess of $300 million

Kazakhstan state companies — offering and sale of debt securities listed on the London Stock Exchange, including $700 million in notes by JSC National Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the owner and operator of all of Kazakhstan's railway system and related infrastructure, $500 million in notes by JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom, the national atomic company of Kazakhstan responsible for mining and exporting uranium and $3 billion in notes by JSC National Company KazMunayGas, national oil and gas company of Kazakhstan with vertically integrated upstream, midstream and downstream operations, which was awarded IFR's Emerging EMEA Bond of the Year for 2008

Apache Corporation — cash tender offer for up to $850 million of three series of its outstanding notes

Apache Corporation — offering of $1.5 billion senior unsecured notes and concurrent offerings of $2.3 billion in common stock and $1.3 billion in mandatory convertible preferred stock in connection with Apache’s proposed purchase of oil and gas properties of BP plc in Texas, New Mexico, Canada and Egypt

Special committee of an AMEX-listed international oil and gas service company — representation in an internal investigation of accounting issues

NASDAQ-listed savings and loan holding company and its financial institution subsidiary — corporate, securities, regulatory and governance issues arising from the national subprime and credit crises and the receivership of the financial institution subsidiary

NYSE-listed company — approximately $31 million sale of its worldwide infant care business to a German buyer

Pilot Chemical Company — privately-held and independent specialty chemical manufacturer, in its acquisition of the assets and business of Liquid Minerals Group and of Mason Chemical Company

Private company — spinoff of its engineered composites and bulk handling businesses, and the subsequent acquisition of the assets of a complementary engineering business

Eurasian Development Bank — an international development bank formed by treaty between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and others, in the establishment and update of its US $3.5 billion Euro Medium Term Note Programme listed on the London Stock exchange

Chesapeake Energy Corporation — $1.25 billion joint venture with a group of investors in which Chesapeake contributed oil and gas assets to a subsidiary and the investor group acquired preferred interests in the subsidiary and rights to overriding royalty interests in exchange for a cash contribution

NYSE-listed oil and gas services company — approximately $63 million acquisition of a privately held regional company in the same business

NYSE-oil and gas company — merger with another NYSE-listed company valued at $265 million

Frontera Corporation — certain U.S. securities matters relating to its reincorporation in the Cayman Islands

Eurasian Development Bank — establishment of a US$3.5 billion Euro Medium Term Note Program listed on the London Stock Exchange, and the initial issuance of US $500 million in notes under the program

Pilot Chemical Company — repurchase of the shares of a minority stockholder and related financing transactions